Enabling environmental education in an environmental education centre : a narrative account of opportunities and constraints

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(1)ENABLING ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE: A NARRATIVE ACCOUNT OF OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS. HESTELLE RONETTE MELVILLE. Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Environmental Education,. STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY. Supervisor: Dr.Chris Reddy. March 2007.

(2) DECLARATION. I, the undersigned, hereby declare that this thesis is my own original work, and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university to obtain a degree.. Signature:. ……………………….. Date:. …………………………….. i.

(3) ABSTRACT This mini-thesis documents a Narrative Inquiry as a phenomenon with special focus on reflective accounts of my experiences, opportunities and constraints in the process of self development as an environmental education practitioner in an environmental education centre situated in a nature reserve.. I provide some background information on the environmental education centre, the reserve and the broader structure in which it functions. Through the process of reflection I try to clarify some of the issues that I grappled with in my practice as an environmental educator in nature conservation. A critical discussion of the projects, activities and programmes offered through the centre provide clarity and insight into the work I am doing as well as my role as environmental education officer in the broader context of my job and the organisation for which I work.. Reflection of my personal experiences over a period of time is weaved throughout this study in order to contribute to/or provide a sense of clarity and understanding of my believes as an environmental educator responsible for an environmental education centre situated in a nature reserve. Through this study the importance of training for education officers, engaging with research and the need for clearly defined aims and objectives for the centres funded by nature conservation became apparent.. The study demonstrates that the implementation of environmental. education is possible and can be achieved, but with the necessary capacity.. ii.

(4) ABSTRAK. Hierdie mini-tesis dokumenteer ‘n verhalende ondersoek as ‘n verskynsel met spesiale fokus op nadenke in verband met my ondervindings, geleenthede, en beperkinge in die proses van self ontwikkeling as ‘n omgewings opvoedkundige in ‘n omgewings opvoedkunde sentrum geleë in ‘n natuurreservaat.. Ek verskaf agtergrondsinligting oor die omgewingsopvoedkunde sentrum, die reservaat en die breër struktuur waarin dit funksioneer. Deur die proses van nadenke probeer ek om die kwessies waarmee ek in die praktyk as omgewingsopvoeder in natuurbewaring gesukkel het, op te klaar. Ek bespreek krities die projekte, aktiwiteite en programme wat deur die sentrum aangebied word, en bereik daardeur die helderheid en insig in die werk wat ek doen en in my rol as omgewingsopvoedkundige beampte in die breër konteks van my werk en die organisasie waarvoor ek werk.. Nadenke oor my persoonlike ondervindings oor ‘n tydperk word in hierdie studie ingeweef met die doel om ‘n bydrae te lewer en ‘n sin van helderheid en insig in my rol in natuurbewaring en omgewingsopvoeding te verskaf. Hierdie studie het aan die lig gebring die belangrikheid van opleiding vir omgewingsopvoedkundige beamptes, die betrokkenheid by navorsing en die behoefte aan duidelike doelwitte en doelstellings vir sentrums wat deur natuurbewaring befonds word. Hierdie studie demonstreer dat die implementering van omgewingsopvoedkunde moontlik is met die nodige kapasiteit.. iii.

(5) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This study was made possible by the support , tolerance and constant motivation of my wonderful family (darling husband Sullivan, Sasha and Mamma), my angel friend (Karin) and my very supportive and patient supervisor, Dr. Chris Reddy.. \. iv.

(6) CHAPTER OUTLINE. Page. 1.. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO STUDY. 1.1. Introduction. 1. 1.2. Context and research rational. 2. 1.3. Reason for embarking on this study. 7. 1.4. Goals and objectives of the study. 10. 1.5. Thesis outline. 11. 2.. LITERATURE STUDY. 2.1. Environmental Education, a brief overview. 13. 2.2. History of Environmental Education. 14. 2.2.1 International context. 15. 2.2.2 South African context. 16. Understanding the concept of Environmental Education. 21. 2.3.1. Education about the environment. 21. 2.3.2. Education in the environment. 21. 2.3.3. Education for the environment. 22. 2.3. 2.4. Environmental Education Centres. 22. 3.. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY. 27. v.

(7) 4.. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE KPEEC. 36. 4.1. History of the Tygerberg Nature Reserve (TNR). 37. 4.2. The TNR as a unique natural asset for environmental / conservation education.. 4.3. 37. History of the Kristo Pienaar Environmental Education Centre (KPEEC). 41. 4.4. Early educational activities of KPEEC. 43. 5.. ENABLING ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: THE ROLE OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION OFFICER. 5.1. Responsibilities. 48. 5.2. Informal Environmental Education. 51. 5.2.1. 51. 5.3. 5.4. Support groups and volunteers. Formal Environmental Education. 53. 5.3.1 Language. 53. 5.3.2. Research. 53. 5.3.3. Resource centre. 54. 5.3.4. Tygerberg Olympiad for the Environment. 55. 5.3.5. EE formalised in School Curriculum. 56. Current Environmental Education programmes: development and implementation. 56. 5.4.1. Broad framework of an approach to a programme. 59. 5.4.2. The programme within the EE framework. 62. vi.

(8) 6.. SUMMARY OF INTERPRETATIONS. REFERENCES. 63. 70. APPENDICES Appendix I. 77. Appendix II. 80. Appendix III. 83. Appendix IV. 86. Figure 1: Competing and intersecting interest in work context.. 66. vii.

(9) LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CCT. City of Cape Town. DNR. Durbanville Nature Reserve. EE. Environmental Education. EEASA. Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa. EIA. Environmental Impact Assessment. FTH. Friends of the Tygerberg Hills. IMEP. The Integrated Metropolitan Environmental Policy. IUCN. International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. KPEEC. Kristo Pienaar Environmental Education Centre. NC. Nature Conservation. NEMA. National Environmental Management Act. SANBI. South African National Bio-diversity Institute. TNR. Tygerberg Nature Reserve. TBC. Tygerberg Bird Club. UNCED. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. UNEP. United Nations Environment Programme. UNESCO. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. YES. Youth Environmental School. viii.

(10) CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO STUDY. 1.1. Introduction. This study/research is my attempt as an environmental education officer to express my own ‘voice’ (Goodson 2000:16, Richardson, 2001:35, Winberg, 2002:1) in telling about my experiences (autobiographical) and in a small way that of my colleagues (biographical), written in the form of a narrative or a story (Olson, 1997:491, April, 2003:3). Being both the practitioner and the researcher, I’m telling my story/narrative hoping for authority and validity, the same as research done by a separate researcher. The study is written in the first person since I am describing and trying to make sense of my own experiences in my work situation.. Writing as a method of inquiry is a way of nurturing our own individuality and giving us authority over our understanding of our own lives.. I write because I want to find something out. Richardson (2001:35). On the topic of ‘voice’, Goodson (2000:16) considers it “important in that it carries the tone, the language, the quality, the feelings that are conveyed by the way a teacher speaks or writes”. Richardson (2001:35) speaks further about writers that silence their own ‘voices’ since they were taught not to write until they knew what they wanted to say. I, similar to Richardson, am writing in order to learn something that I did not know before I started writing by discussing the particulars of my professional situation.. My wish is that the telling of my story would lead to reflection on my practice and ‘reinterpret, broaden, and deepen’ (Olson, 1997:490) my experiences, which in 1.

(11) turn would lead to my own professional development.. Becoming reflective. appears to be a developmental process (Calderhead and Gates, 1993:9). Similar to Jalongo and Isenberg (cited in Olson, 1997:490) I hope to move beyond the mere telling of my story to exploring the underlying power of the narrative to lead to reflection on my practice with more insight into my personal philosophy on the role of environmental education officers and environmental education centres situated in nature reserves. This view is related to Winberg’s view of reflection:. Reflection, growing awareness and intellectual awakening will not automatically result from narrative research, but the potential for this to develop is perhaps greater than with conventional research. Winberg (2002:14). I contextualised my story/narrative and reflection within the main influences that impacted on my work activities.. 1.2. Context and research rational. The expectation is that this study will develop into a critical reflection that will focus on the role, activities and services offered at the Kristo Pienaar Environmental Education Centre (KPEEC) in order to understand and review the professional work of the education officer responsible for the centre and its operations. The author, who is also the education officer (the “I”), outlined and contextualised the operation of this centre within the broader guidelines that inform environmental education practise and conservation policy. The centre was the site I researched and activities offered at the centre the object of enquiry.. ………to some who are not in curriculum studies……… what is at stake is less a matter of working theories and ideologies and more a question of the place of research in the improvement of practice… Connelly & Clandinin (1990:12). 2.

(12) The Kristo Pienaar Environmental Education Centre (KPEEC) is situated in the Tygerberg Nature Reserve (TNR) and is one of the Environmental Education (EE) initiatives that forms part of the broader Nature Conservation department in the City of Cape Town (CCT). It is owned and administered by the CCT and is one of the many EE centres within the Local Government structure. CCT owns land comprising sixteen nature reserves situated in different areas of the Cape Metropole, all with different natural ecosystems. The reserves also differ in the communities they serve; staffing, time they have been in operation and available resources. All the existing education programmes in the different reserves of the city focus on the particular environmental issues and ecological systems that are unique to them. The education officers responsible for these programmes differ in experience, responsibilities, priorities and qualifications/ backgrounds.. Within the CCT Nature Conservation section, there is no manager with formal/professional environmental education training or expertise to co-ordinate the programmes offered at the nature reserves, and no career path exists for professional environmental educators. This has led to a lack of homogeneous strategic approach and overall management of the EE centres and the programmes offered by them as confirmed in the CCT Evaluation Report of 2004. This lack will be referred to again in chapter 3 and the Evaluation Report (CCT, 2004) will be cited throughout the study.. Environmental Education programmes in the City of Cape Town should be responding to international, national, provincial and local government policies and strategies, current imperatives and initiatives.. International Guidelines •. Agenda 21 (1992). The South African government supports Agenda 21, adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Agenda 21, Chapter 23 (p.2) states, “Education is critical for sustainable development and 3.

(13) increasing the capacity for people to address environment and development issues” (UNCED, 1992).. National Guidelines •. Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP, 1994). The RDP advocates, “programmes to rekindle our people’s love of land, to increase environmental consciousness amongst our youth, to co-ordinate environmental education policy at all levels, to empower communities to act on environmental issues and to promote an environmental ethic.”. This. programme, although outdated was still recognized during the year of my appointment. •. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act No. 108 of 1996) Section 4.2.1. The Constitution, within its Bill of Rights (p.10), provides all citizens with the rights (a) “to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well being”, and (b) “to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures”. •. White Paper on Education and Training (1995:22). The White Paper on Education and Training states that “environmental education, involving an interdisciplinary, integrated and active approach to learning, must be a vital element of all levels and programmes of the education and training system, in order to create environmentally literate and active citizens and to ensure that all South Africans, present and future, enjoy a decent quality of life through the sustainable use of resources” (p.18). Environmental Education is being advocated at all levels 1995).. 4. (DoE & DoL,.

(14) •. National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) (No. 107 of 1998). The NEMA provides the country with principles of environmental management, several of which emphasise the role of public participation, and the role of environmental education in making such participation possible. For example, “Community well-being and empowerment must be promoted through environmental education, the raising of environmental awareness, the sharing of knowledge and experience and other appropriate means” (4h). •. The official curriculum of the National Department of Education. The right to a healthy environment is one of the core principles of the Revised National Curriculum Statement. A key feature is that it produces meaningful outcomes and that learning is relevant to learners’ lives and highlights environmental issues and risks in all learning areas at various grade/phase levels.. Institutional Guidelines •. The Integrated Metropolitan Environmental Policy (IMEP) of the CCT. IMEP’s 2020 Vision includes an environmentally educated public, with high expectations of local government in terms of environmental governance and management. Environmental education is identified as a sectoral strategy and a tool in the other sectoral strategies.. Strategies are being developed to. capture and extend the best ideas and practice in the organisation. •. The Biodiversity Strategy of CCT (2002). Here environmental education is recognised as one of the strategic objectives to help achieve the aims of the strategy.. 5.

(15) •. The Environmental Education and Training Strategy of CCT (2003). The strategy outlines strategic goals, approaches and objectives for environmental education processes in the city.. It contains a section on. Implementation and notes on Monitoring and Evaluation, which were then expanded on from 2004 with evaluations done on specific EE programmes offered by the CCT, which included EE centres in nature reserves.. One of the strategic objectives is to: “develop and resource the CCT nature reserves as key implementation sites for environmental education and where relevant, training.” It furthermore emphasises the importance of EE to take place all over the City (“from sewage treatment plants to township waste dumps”) to encourage the wise management of natural and cultural resources.. (Adapted from the Environmental Education and Training Strategy, 2003 and the Nature Conservation Evaluation Report, 2004 of City of Cape Town). While these policies should guide the work of environmental education officers, they are difficult to implement and in some cases not even part of the activities at all. It appears as though very few of the ideas for environmental education as expressed above have been incorporated into the practices of most education officers in the reserves. Being part of the development of these strategies (in the years 2002–2004) cited above was exciting and they would have been useful during my initial stages (in the year 2000) as education officer since they provide criteria and policy guidelines for biodiversity and environmental education. The question still remains: do the newly appointed EE officers in the CCT really engage with these policy documents? To what extent is the implementation of these strategies being monitored? Are they even understood by everyone who is supposed to be implementing them? Do EE officers in nature reserves have the time or capacity to respond to the requests made in these documents? Although I consider these strategies important guidelines for EE officers, they are not imperative for this study since they were developed two to three years after my. 6.

(16) appointment at the KPEEC and can thus develop into an independent research study.. 1.3. Reason for embarking on this study. The questions of various people on how I started and established the KPEEC acted as a catalyst to undertake this study. This stimulated my thinking about what guided me in my practice in establishing my current work at the KPEEC. In South African literature, evaluative studies have been completed on field centres (i.e. centres with overnight facilities), but very little on day centres (i.e. centres with no overnight accommodation). Both are called environmental education centres in South Africa (Pienaar 1993, Shongwe 1996 and Burge 2003). Very little research material was available on the role of environmental education centres situated in nature reserves within an urban setting which offer no overnight accommodation. The little that was available I did not engage with at the initial stage of my appointment.. However, proceedings from the 1994 symposium held in Tygerberg Nature Reserve contain suggestions for future educational activities, and management of the KPEEC in general.. These documents broadly describe ideas for centre. operations and were not useful to me in the initial stages as I required specific guidelines to get me started in this new enterprise. They became useful at a later stage when I was more settled in the job and especially when I started writing this narrative and was bound to engage with the existing documentation or research material available.. Due to the paucity of written guidelines, requirements or strategic objectives on how to start an environmental education centre within nature conservation, I found it necessary and valuable to visit the different EE centres in Cape Town. The centres were all different in terms of their facilities and priorities, but from each one of them there was a lesson to be learned. I learned from EE officers about mistakes being made and how creative methods were being applied to 7.

(17) overcome them.. The different teaching techniques and the vast variety of. activities engaged in, were fascinating. The centres that I visited over a period of time were, according to their schedules and programmes, all fully booked and were being utilised extensively by schools and other organisations from Cape Town and surrounds.. What concerned me, however, was that during my visits to the centres and reflecting on them afterwards, I could not always see the relation between the EE theory (integration of all dimensions of the environment) and what I observed in practice. Many of the activities reminded me of the ecology lessons and practical sessions done in schools. Some even had the completed lesson plans similar to those used in schools.. Others again just gave a number of facts about our. biophysical environment with very little or no connection to what the learners encounter in school. I could not recall one session where the teachers were actively involved and participating in the programme.. When setting off on this new venture in my life, as EE officer in the TNR, being on my own as a teacher in a different environment, while not having all my highly-educated colleagues around me, I soon realised our value as teachers: the value of the years of training we underwent and how much the knowledge and experience we hold, is worth. As a teacher, you don’t always realise how skilled you become in various aspects of life and teaching or how versatile you really are – you learn to plan, to manage a group of people, to relate to people and, of course, you have to communicate with groups of people. While practising as a teacher you often underestimate your value, but outside the protected sphere of formal teaching you realize that you in fact have a wealth of knowledge and expertise to share and draw upon. Teachers are also skilled in communicating with all levels of the community, since we need to communicate with not only, our learners, but also their parents, our colleagues, and do counselling. This I found a great benefit in my new job since I was often required to be the expert botanist, the social ecologist, the communication and marketing officer, the law enforcer and the teacher who needed to train teachers too. 8.

(18) In addition to the advantages of being a trained and experienced teacher, I was armed with the theory of what environmental education entails – acquired during my formal studies at university level and my involvement with the programme development undertaken at the environmental education resource unit of the University of the Western Cape (EERU) in 1996.. The previously white, male dominated world of nature conservation that I entered into did not show much respect for the knowledge of a teacher. Debate/discourse around conservation issues was a scarce phenomenon in the work environment that I found myself in when I joined the Local Government Nature Conservation Department. Nature conservators I encountered and worked with tended to treat teachers as if they did not know much about the world of plants and animals. This was evident on the many excursions and fieldtrips to nature reserves where I accompanied my pupils/learners as a teacher. Some of them tend to conduct their programmes in a fashion that implies that you, as a visitor, are an empty vessel that needs to be filled. There may be a variety of reasons for them doing this, but it may also be that education officers or environmental educators have experienced teachers as not really interested in the programmes they offer the learners on field trips.. Being an education officer or an environmental educator (not necessarily on a reserve), you need to be very efficient in what you offer your visitors due to the fact that they are spending time away from their learning institution or school to visit the centre or reserve and in almost all instances money is spent to get to what you have to offer.. From my experience I realised that networking with other environmental education providers is very important, especially to stay on par with new developments and trends in the EE field. We as EE providers are all so different in our approach and fields of specialisation. As a practising EE officer in a nature reserve, it is required of you to be informed about the latest developments in 9.

(19) nature conservation too.. Attending conferences like the annual EEASA. conference on environmental education and the annual Fynbos Forum for nature conservation is of utmost importance for networking and self-development. These forums also offer the opportunity to measure your own performance against those in the same field. Groups like the EE Friends, EEASA and the Fynbos Forum “provide a very useful forum to learn and grow professionally and to share and promote the City’s EE programmes” (CCT, 2004).. Despite the fact that the visiting educators and learners were valuable in giving feedback (evaluation forms, appendix I) and adding new ideas to the services offered by the centre and reserve, for me “applying reflection to professional practice is a way for practitioners to understand and critique their professional work”. (Peter Willis, 1999, cited in Reddy and Menkveld, 2000:178). Engaging in research into your own practice should also lead to understanding your practice better and in turn enable you to evaluate your own effectiveness.. The motivation behind this narrative is therefore to reflect on the past five years as an EE officer at the KPEEC and to determine to what extent I enabled EE in the KPEEC.. I would like to focus on the opportunities that promoted and the. constraints that inhibited this process, and then hopefully continue with more insight and direction.. 1.4. Goals and objectives of the study. I hope this research will not only be for my own personal and professional growth but that it will develop into a story that may in some small way assist when someone finds himself/herself in the same position, or when he/she is looking for ideas for the development and running of an EE centre. I hope that the lessons learnt and mistakes made can one day be of value to others who need to develop an EE centre, especially when starting a centre from scratch. As Le Roux in Loubser (2005:175) states: “The results of research should be applied or contribute to improving or resolving a dilemma.” Carter (1993) and Clandinin 10.

(20) and Conelly (1996) cited in Winberg (2002:13) “view story as a source of knowledge for practitioners”. Winberg consents that, “it is through narrative, that practical knowledge is theorised for future practices”.. In engaging with this narrative I had the opportunity to reflect on the past five years and to plan the way forward with a deeper understanding of my own practice as an EE officer in a nature reserve. I hope that it will also offer the opportunity to improve the services at the KPEEC and that “growth through critical enquiry, analysis and self-directed evaluation” will be one of the outcomes of this study (Calderhead, 1989).. Through engaging in this research I also hope to develop a vocabulary for talking, thinking and writing about practice, the developmental process referred to by Calderhead & Gates (1993:9), that might inform similar development processes of environmental education centres, enabling environmental education in a ‘conservation’ centre by sharing my experiences, highs and lows, opportunities and constraints. The ultimate purpose of this study is therefore not only to inform programme development and improvement of the services offered by the KPEEC, but also personal development, improvement and better understanding of my practice through the reflection process which I hope to entwine throughout the research.. 1.5. Thesis outline. In chapter one I focussed on the catalyst of this narrative study about my life outside the formal teaching set-up and the process of starting an Environmental Education centre without any prescribed guidelines. In addition, this chapter sets the scene of how and where the KPEEC fits into the greater education and conservation picture.. 11.

(21) Chapter two documents the supporting literature to this study, the history of environmental education and the role of environmental education centres linked to nature conservation.. In chapter three the chosen research re narrative enquiry design and methodology applied in this study is discussed.. Chapter four focus on the historical perspective of the Tygerberg Nature Reserve (TNR) and the Kristo Pienaar Environmental Education Centre (KPEEC), where the story unfolds and the contribution of this to EE practice.. In chapter five my official responsibilities as the education officer and the activities (including the structured environmental education programmes offered to schools) are described and discussed.. Chapter six is the concluding chapter with a summary of my interpretations and recommendations.. 12.

(22) CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW. 2.1. Environmental Education: a brief overview.. The construct of Environmental Education is much debated and largely dependent on the understanding of the concept of environment.. Di Chiro (1987) explains that, “The environment is not something that has reality outside or separate from ourselves and our social milieu. Rather, it should be understood as the conceptual interactions between our physical surroundings and the social, political and economic forces that organise us in the context of these surroundings.”. Fien (1993a) agrees that the environment is “a social construct referring to the interactions between social and bio-physical systems.” The ‘environment’ is thus ‘human-made’.. Today the term/construct environment includes historical. processes and life experiences, not like in the past when the environment was seen as a physical world of nature at risk (O’Donoghue & Janse van Rensburg, 1995:3). The complex concept of environmental education is open to various interpretations, and a wide variety of definitions exist. The IUCN (1971) has perhaps produced the most comprehensive and most widely accepted definition of environmental education.. This definition is internationally recognised and. generally regarded as a useful working definition. It reads. Environmental education is the process of recognising values and clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the interrelatedness among man, his 13.

(23) culture and his biophysical surroundings. Environmental education also entails practice in decision-making and self-formulation of a code of behaviour about issues concerning environmental quality. IUCN (1971:7). During the first UNESCO-UNEP international meeting on environmental education, the Belgrade International workshop held in 1975, the Belgrade Charter was produced. At this conference participants formulated a very succinct and appropriate definition for environmental education (Stapp 1979:3, Klein 1997:7) that coincides with the goals of the context in which my research takes place:. Environmental Education is a process aimed at developing a world population that is aware of and concerned about the total environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, attitude, motivation, solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones.. UNESCO-UNEP (1975). Environmental education can be seen as educational processes or activities aimed at promoting the importance, knowledge and value of the environment and its ecological facts. Shongwe (1996:247) reiterates that environmental issues are complex and that environmental education seems to be more complex as it is difficult for many to conceptualise.. He advocates the need for further EE. development in terms of philosophy and methodologies that seem to be fundamental and unique to it.. 2.2. History of Environmental Education. A very useful history of environmental education in South Africa by Irwin and Lotz-Sisitka was published in Loubser (2005) where they compiled and summarised what happened in the South African and the international contexts in 14.

(24) environmental education.. I draw strongly on this chapter to illuminate the. international and South African settings of environmental education.. 2.2.1. International context. According to Irwin (1991), the earliest origins of environmental education can be traced to ancient Egypt, Greece, India and China.. In Egypt, the pharaoh Ikhnaton is reputed to have sent scribes to teach farmers not to plant crops too close to the banks of the Nile, as the natural vegetation was more likely to prevent erosion of the banks and ultimately, loss of productive farmland.. Irwin and Lotz-Sisitka (2005) state that in China, education. programmes to encourage reforestation and sustainable production were in operation about 3000 years ago. In Greece in the 4th century BC, Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle, regarded by some as the father of ecology, argued for a form of integrated environmental management. He was unsuccessful in his attempt and today areas like Athens are paying the price with unproductive soils and barren land.. It is believed that environmental education originates from the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century that led to mass-production, social problems and environmental destruction. (Wheeler 1975:2) in Loubser (2005:38) felt that man was alienated from nature through this process that led to wasteful demand on our natural resources.. Commoner (1972:15) asserts that man is under the fatal. illusion that through machines we have escaped our dependence on the natural environment. The Industrial Revolution had a global impact with an increased demand on our natural resources and much higher waste production, which led to many environmental concerns and gave rise to environmental education as a response. Environmental education can be seen as an attempt to raise awareness among the general public of the need to conserve what is left of our natural resources and nature in general. The critical issue is how best to use our resources. 15.

(25) to enhance the lives of people, while ensuring that future generations will also have access to those resources, (Irwin and Lotz-Sisitka, in Loubsher, 2005).. During the early 1980s “outdoor education”, with different theoretical perspectives was used to replace the socio-political dimensions of environmental education, to keep it politically correct. This not only happened in South Africa but also in countries like the United States. This phenomenon disappeared in South Africa, but in Europe and the United States they are still debating the difference between environmental education and “education for sustainability” and the role of outdoor education in these processes.. 2.2.2. South African context. Environmental education has undergone a series of developments and shifts in focus in South Africa over time.. Ramphele & McDowell (1991:2) wrote: … many of South Africa’s ecological problems are linked to the social engineering process pursued by successive governments, which exploited the country’s resources for the benefit of the white minority …. Ramphele (1991) and Irwin (1989) emphasise that the history of conservation in South Africa cannot be ignored. As indicated, black people were alienated from environmental concerns and with their limited and poverty stricken living space (homelands which were turned into nature- and game reserves) are now exposed to broader environmental issues. Ramphele also asserts that, “Bantu education and other anti-development programmes imposed by authoritarian governments have not fostered in people a love for nature”(Ramphele, 1991:7). It is therefore clear that in South Africa the history of the country is very important to be able to understand the environmental problems encountered. This has a strong influence on the types of environmental education programmes offered by an EE centre.. 16.

(26) The fact that the KPEEC is located in a predominantly white and very affluent area created a challenge that will be discussed in chapters 5 and 6.. Fensham’s (1978:64) statement, that in many countries environmentalists and curriculum designers come from financially comfortable backgrounds can also not be ignored. Bak (1995:46) emphasises this by stating that “…. environmental education is vigorously supported by developed countries”. In her paper “Green doesn’t always mean go! …” she focuses on South Africa’s long history of political oppression and economic deprivation. Here consideration must be given to the fact that support for EE or what it stands for, for example less consumerism, is not supported by all South Africans - with the history of apartheid and economic underdevelopment.. In an article in the Sowetan of June (1995:15), Bhengu, the then minister of education stated the following:. “It’s a pity most South Africans don’t know what environmental education is all about. Most think it has something to do only with nature reserves. There is a dire need for effective environmental education that develops a holistic environmental ethic in us, as custodians of the environment …” Shongwe (1996:231). Prior to the Belgrade Charter of 1975 (which spoke about a world-wide EE programme), the Tbilisi Principles of 1977 (which referred to the role of EE to improve the environment) and the Brundtland Report of 1987 (which referred to the crucial role teachers can play in sustainable development), South Africa mostly concentrated on the conservation of the natural environment, that is basic ecology.. The political, social and built-up environments were not really. considered since most of the environmental education had taken place under the auspices of the various conservation agencies, “Conservation education”, teaching about natural resources, was the order of the day.. 17.

(27) According to Irwin and Lotz-Sisitka in Loubser (2005:47), “environmental education” in Southern Africa was never focussed on the natural environment only; conservation education only became part of the broader field of environmental education. Environmental education in Southern Africa has from the start concerned itself with the political, social, economic, cultural, urban and ecological environments that are all inseparable elements. In view of the fact that South Africa is a country with increasing poverty, unemployment and violence, the nature experience became less relevant and was seen as a narrow approach to environmental education (Van Rensburg & Taylor, 1993: 7).. Even though the ‘environment’ is a range of interacting dimensions, including the social, political, economic and biophysical (O’Donoghue, 1993), the roots of Environmental Education are in our biophysical / ecological world. In practising environmental education, especially in a nature reserve, the critical connections between the above mentioned dimensions should never be missed, but the focus ought to remain on the inter-relatedness between the social and ecological extent of life (Rosenberg, 2004). Peden and Roff (2005:23) accentuate this by stating the following:. We are facing an unprecedented environmental crisis. Unless learners start discovering and valuing the natural world and understanding their relationships to it, we are unlikely to find the way forward to sustainable living on this planet.. During the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg in 2002 the need for socio-ecological, political and economic transformation was emphasized. The importance of education in response to global issues like poverty and many more was also acknowledged.. In South Africa before 1994 only four of the seventeen Education Departments truly supported environmental education initiatives. The old Transvaal Education Department formed “Veld Schools” as their own exclusive outdoor education 18.

(28) programmes in their attempt not to embrace environmental education for what it stands. Outdoor education was deemed so important that in 1980 a large conference was held in Pretoria on this movement (Irwin & Lotz-Sisitka in Loubser, 2005:48).. In 1982 the first international conference on environmental education in South Africa was held in Mooi River, Natal at Treverton College. During this five-day conference the Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) was formed. Annual conferences have been taking place since then. The EEASA still regularly publishes the “Southern African Journal of Environmental Education (since 1984) and the Environmental Education Bulletin (since 1988).. In 1989 a White Paper on Environmental Education (p.7) was tabled in the South African Parliament. This document, with its limited impact, embraced most of the Tbilisi Principles and the internationally accepted concept of environmental education, but it did not focus on the complexity of environmental problems or the true causes of these problems.. This document “advises close collaboration. between the formal education system and environmental education centres” (Schulze, 1991/2:22). South Africa’s National Environmental Management Act of 1998 emphasises the need for environmental education in all walks of life.. In 1992 the Environmental Education Policy Initiative (EEPI) was formed to develop an education curriculum policy within the formal education arena. “A key outcome of the wide-raging deliberations and contestations of the EEPI was a resolution at the National Education Co-ordination Committee (NECC) conference in 1993” (Irwin and Lotz-Sisitka, 2005) which stated that “… the curriculum will develop the understanding, values and skills necessary for sustainable development and an environment that ensures healthy living” Clacherty (1993).. 19.

(29) In 1994 the above clause was reiterated in the ANC’s Policy Framework for Education and Training. The White Paper on Education and Training of 1995 stated that:. …environmental education, involving an interdisciplinary, integrated and active approach to learning, must be a vital element of all levels and programmes of the education and training system, in order to create environmentally literate and active citizens and ensure that all South Africans, present and future, enjoy a decent quality of life through the sustainable use of resources. (DoE & DoL, 1995:18). The EEPI later became the Environmental Education Curriculum Initiative (EECI) with a focus on formal education curriculum policy development. Environmental educators thus participated in the development of Curriculum 2005 (1997) and the Revised National Curriculum Statement (2002). The Council of Education Ministers noted the importance of EE in the national curriculum, hence in 2000 the Minister of Education (Kader Asmal) established the National Environmental Education Project for General Education and Training (NEEPGET). Today environmental education forms part of all learning areas in the formal school curriculum (National Curriculum Statements) and formal qualifications for environmental education practitioners have been approved by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).. The inclusion of EE in the formal education curriculum has influenced or impacted on the work of EE centres including the KPEEC. However contestations of what EE is and how it should be presented at centres situated in nature reserves are complex and not easy to resolve in such context. Much of this research reported is linked to my current work as an educator/teacher with an EE background, working for nature conservation (discussed in chapters 4 and 5) and deals with the conflicts or constraints of EE in nature conservation centres.. 20.

(30) 2.3. Understanding the concept of Environmental Education. In 1979 Lucas proposed three different approaches to environmental education, “…education about, in and for the environment” (Greenall-Gough, 1993). Fien (1993b: 15–49) again speaks about education about the environment, through the environment and for the environment. “These approaches differ with regard to the objectives (knowledge and skills) and interest (social and political) underpinning environmental education.”(Klein, 1997) The three most frequently used approaches environmental education can be divided into are: education about the environment, education in the environment and education for the environment. The difference between these approaches is best understood when compared with each other.. 2.3.1 Education about the environment is the provision of information (facts, theories and concepts) on environmental issues, very often of an ecological nature and in a depoliticised and uncritical form (Huckle, 1985). The goals, creating a concern for and an awareness of the environment are thus purely cognitive and the integration of natural and social systems is often neglected. The participants are the passive receivers of knowledge from an authoritative figure. Fien (1990) and Lucas (1979) consider knowledge about the environment essential for informed debate to take place in resolving environmental issues.. 2.3.2 Education in the environment is any form of education conducted outside of the traditional classroom, using the environment as a medium for teaching. Experiential learning takes place by taking participants out into nature to do fieldwork. According to Fien (1993a: 13–15, 1993b: 42–43), it is a studentcentred approach that views the environment as a vehicle for the student’s development of important technical skills, such as data gathering and observation. This form of environmental education is also known as education from (Huckle, 1983) and education through (Fien, 1993b) the environment.. According to. Huckle (1983) this form of education disregards social and political factors and fails to consider the material base of society. 21.

(31) 2.3.3. Education for the environment pursues the formation of appropriate. environmental attitudes, ethics and behaviours, as well as the skills needed to generate a quality environment (Fien, 1990).. Therefore, education for the. environment is considered most appropriate to the global environmental crisis (Fien, 1993a). “Environmental education for the environment builds on education about and in the environment, to develop an informed concern for the environment, as well as ethics and skills for participating in environmental protection and improvement” (Klein, 1997).. It is aimed at encouraging. participants to think critically and develop a critical environmental consciousness, which is vitally needed in the South African milieu with the serious depletion of our natural resources. Participants or learners should be actively involved in decision-making and problem solving. This form of socially critical education engages a wide range of knowledge, skills, values and participation not addressed by education in and about the environment (Fien, 1993b).. This research deals with environmental education in an outdoor setting; a method of education as seen through the ecological environment, usually about and more recently for conserving what is left of our natural resources, not ignoring our built or man-made environment. Despite the differences in objectives of all these approaches, they overlap and complement each other and were useful in reflecting on the EE programmes and activities offered at the KPEEC that is situated in a nature reserve within an urban setting.. 2.4. Environmental Education Centres. “In the United States of America Joseph Cogswell is credited with the initiation of the first documented ‘outdoor education’ programmes between 1824 and 1832” (Ford, 1981 cited in Pienaar, 1993:4). Outdoor education refers to programmes in the natural environment, which may or may not include environmental issues. In the United States the concept of outdoor education evolved through a number of phases from camping, ‘nature studies’ to highly structured field excursions in the 1950’s. The focal points of these outdoor programmes were more on individual 22.

(32) development, group interaction and social adjustment. During this period many ‘resident outdoor education centres’ were established (Pienaar, 1993:4). In the 1960s a large number of resident centres (i.e. providing overnight accommodation) were developed, in the United States of America, United Kingdom and the Scandinavian countries. Day centres (i.e. without overnight accommodation) also developed in response to environmental education needs. Environmental education offered at these centres is seen as programmes with a holistic approach, with the main focus on environmental issues (Pienaar, 1993). The Umgeni Valley Project in Natal can be referred to as a successful resident centre concept in South Africa (Irwin, 1990 cited in Pienaar, 1993:1).. The original idea of environmental education field centres thus started in the United States and is still one of their main approaches to environmental education. The literature on EE centres (field centres) is predominantly from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, where I found the emphasis on either outdoor experiences or scientific fieldwork. Cooper (1992:5-8) cited in Pienaar (1993) has reservations about the effectiveness of these ‘outdoor centres’ in creating an awareness and concern for the environment. Experiences in the wild areas fail to address the demands of sustainable living and fit the narrow view of conservation education (Fien, 1993b: 65; Shongwe, 1996:18; Yeld, 1993:43). In South Africa outdoor education also took place with the focus on ‘teaching about our natural resources’ (conservation education). According to Ford (1981) cited in Pienaar (1993), during the 1960s ‘outdoor education’ and ‘conservation education’ extended towards ‘environmental education’ where the word environment encompasses the total human environment, both natural and manmade. According to the limited literature on environmental education centres in South Africa, most of the centres formed during the 1970s focussed on awareness through nature experiences (O’Donoghue, 1993). A large number of the existing environmental education centres are situated within natural areas, for example nature reserves and botanical gardens, and the focus is still on nature experiences and conservation. Yeld (1993:42) cited in Shongwe (1996:157) affirmed that the 23.

(33) primary focus of field centres is ‘awareness creation’ as the main transmitter of the environmental message. O’Donoghue and many others saw this approach as too narrow in focus and limited in value and called for the transformation of centres “into a centre of community meaning making and action” (O’Donoghue, 1993:32).. He sees centres as places with ideas and tools for environmental. problems, where people meet to seek clarity on environmental issues. Structured fieldwork should continue but hands-on activities and resource accessibility should be the key for EE centres (Shongwe 1996:158).. Over the years the local government of Cape Town nature conservation branch has not officially formulated any definite educational role for its environmental education centres situated on the nature reserves. Nature conservators who were oriented towards conservation education or the biophysical aspects of the environment ran most of the centres. They were equipped to provide relevant ecological information since understanding comes with experience (encounter) and discussion (dialogue) that should challenge participants to think about (reflect on) their experience (O’Donoghue & Janse van Rensburg, 1995:4; Shongwe 1996:18). In the EE programmes offered on the reserves and other centres I did not always detect the dialogue that should or could lead to the expected reflection on the participant’s experience of the nature reserve.. Burge (2003) did an evaluative study of the environmental education centres of the Kwazulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture. In his opinion the centres should enhance the formal curriculum and be instrumental in educational advancement for students, learners and educators. In the KPEEC this was only possible to a limited extent, since the schools and the curriculum formed only one component of the role this centre could play in the community. Creative methods were needed and applied, which will be referred to later, in an attempt to strengthen and enhance the formal curriculum links. Working within a very broad job description, many other responsibilities hindered my ability to respond to this request. Burge (2003) also mentions that nowhere in the School’s Act do they refer to EE centres. The centres he evaluated or referred to differ from the 24.

(34) KPEEC because they were funded and staffed (more than one education officer) by the department of education. Their foundation was therefore formal education in contrast to the KPEEC that is funded by nature conservation and has biodiversity as its base with only one appointed education officer.. A serious lack of information about EE centres in Southern Africa, England and America is confirmed in the research done by Shongwe (1996:19), this despite the fact that a major part of Southern Africa’s EE resources have been channelled into such centres (Janse van Rensburg, 1992:2 cited in Shongwe 1996:19).. Janse van Rensburg (1994:5) and Thomas (1990:3) cited in (Shongwe, 1997:53) identified a need for the evaluation of environmental education programmes offered at EE centres. The City of Cape Town, undertook an evaluation process in 2004, involving four EE officers responsible for environmental education and the management of EE centres on some of the nature reserves. The evaluation report is constantly being referred to throughout this study, since the KPEEC was included in this process. The report was included in the Start-Up Resource for evaluating environmental education and training projects, programmes and resources that was developed in 2004 by the City of Cape Town. This Start-Up Resource consists of ‘tools’ to help plan and conduct an evaluation and with case studies as illustrations.. An investigation by a task team into the status and functioning of twenty environmental centres in Ezemvelo KZN Widlife areas was also completed in 2001. Each centre was dealt with separately and recommendations were made to optimise centre operations (Investigation report: Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, 2001). This report will also be referred to later in the study. Many other smaller studies have been conducted in order to improve services or determine needs of EE centres in the different organizations. Loubser (1994) published a short article on a case study on planning an EE centre. In this article Loubser lists the aims of EE centres, criteria for development of a centre and many other aspects involved in the planning of a centre. This article will also be referred to later in the study. 25.

(35) In conclusion, three important areas were discussed, namely Environment, Environmental Education and Environmental Education Centres in general. These concepts form important background to my work at the KPEEC since it is an EE centre in a nature reserve. Various concepts/viewpoints of environment, environmental education and the nature of centres were expressed in my work.. 26.

(36) CHAPTER 3. Research design and methodology. Mouton (1996:107) defines a research design as “a set of guidelines and instructions to be followed in addressing the research problem.” He further states that “the aim of a research design is to plan and structure a given research project in such a manner that the eventual validity of the research findings is maximized”. According to Durheim (1999:29) a research design is “a strategic framework for action that serves as a bridge between research questions and the execution or implementation of the research.” Durheim (1999:32) states further that these strategic frameworks of action should specify a series of activities that will ensure that valid conclusions can be drawn from the research.. In this study/narrative I make my personal experience as an education officer at an environmental education centre the central focus of the research. The following considerations were also kept in mind in deciding on a research design: •. I wanted to capture the richness and complexity of my experience within a specific context in narrative form (April, 2003:14), since narrative as a research approach values personal experience.. •. The study is written in the first person since I am describing and trying to make sense of my own experiences in my work context with the objective of improving my understanding of my practice.. “I” am thus the. researcher, critic and myself, the person being researched.. It is the. multiple “I’s” referred to by Connelly & Clandinin (1990:9).. Narrative inquiry is the study of the ways humans experience the world. It is an educational research theory, in which humans are story-telling organisms that lead storied lives and are characters in their own and others’ stories. Narrative is thus both phenomenon and method (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990:2; Gough, 1993:179). 27.

(37) According to Gough (1993:177), apart from meeting the requirements of environmental education, for the development and renewal of the discipline, by producing relevant data with critical investigations, narrative enquiry can ‘also be used to provide a critical perspective on the discursive authority of empirical studies’. Narrative gives us the particulars of a situation and prompts us to recall, rethink and reconnect personal and professional events in holistic ways rather than in compartmentalized and linear ways (Olson, 1997:490). Narrative is also in part concerned with the analysis and criticism of stories and texts (Gough, 1993:176).. “Because of its focus on experience and the qualities of life and education, narrative is situated in a matrix of qualitative research.” (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990:3), which fits the research I engaged with. According to Van Maanen et al. (1982:16) cited in Schulze.. Quality is the, what and quantity is the how much. At root, qualitative research wants to describe what is occurring in a given place and at a given time. Schulze (1991/2:22). Essentially this research was conducted and located within an interpretive paradigm with an emphasis on qualitative information. This approach deals with the acts and meanings ascribed to events by the actors situated in their sociocultural and physical settings. The aim of interpretive research is not just to develop an explanatory theory, which can predict outcomes, but also rather to encourage understanding, and to explain how you interpret and understand your situation. Terre Blanche cited in Kelly (1999:124) mention “interpretive research relies on first-hand accounts, tries to describe what it sees in rich detail and presents its findings in engaging and sometimes evocative language.” I developed detailed accounts of my programme development and overall development of the Kristo Pienaar centre as well as the planning and implementation of the programmes and activities presented at the centre, with the intention of portraying these programmes or activities as vividly as possible to readers. 28.

(38) According to Kelly (1999:398) the interpretive turn in social sciences includes a turn towards ‘contextual’ research. This approach has as starting point that people exist in contexts (Thomas, 1995:2) and that human experience can therefore not be understood without understanding the social, linguistic and historical features, which give it shape (Kelly 1999:398). Consistent with this view is also the notion that ‘people in context‘ are engaged in attempts at relating and communicating; that is, they are making efforts to understand and interpret their own behaviour and that of others in their community, context or milieu (Thomas, 1995:2). The individual’s attempt at constructing meaning is then embedded in interaction with social, historical and cultural contexts and cannot be fully understood outside of these contexts.. Edgar (1999:366) citing Postman (1996) states that we all need narratives, stories or myths to give direction to our lives. He adds that we need narratives that guide our personal and professional paths, speak of where we came from, where we are going and that provide a code of conduct for how we are to behave along the way. Beattie (1995:2), in reflecting on the reason for writing her personal narrative, states that “I tell this story because it focuses on some of the narrative threads that link my past, present and future together and because it brings to light some of the tensions that run beneath the surface of my personal and professional life.”. In this autobiographical narrative I attempt to clarify how my personal experiences as a teacher, and currently a teacher in an environmental education centre, have influenced and shaped the development of the research question and research process as well as my practice. I use narrative more as a phenomenon, that is, to describe events in my development process and to make links to the research project. I also apply narrative as a form of enquiry with a focus on reflective accounts and questioning. The reflective accounts are based on my own descriptions of my working life and practice as an environmental education officer in an education centre in a nature reserve.. 29.

(39) In narrative inquiry there are also a variety of data sources or records and ways of collecting data. Clandinin and Connelly (2000:92) call these records field texts, because these records are “created, neither found nor discovered, by participants and researchers in order to represent aspects of field experience”. These need to be positioned within the three-dimensional inquiry space, that is keeping in mind temporality, the personal and social dimension and the notion of place (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000:50&95). Field texts can include teacher stories, family stories and stories of families, as well as, autobiographical writing and life experience (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000:98–115) and they can be collected in many ways including observation and conversations. The records explained influenced me, and were kept in mind while undertaking this research:. Which records are most telling? No matter how familiar they are with their data, narrative writers need to search their memories, both human and computer, for significant events preparatory to writing in much the same way that individuals search their memories and files for important events in preparation for writing a biography. Connelly & Clandinin (1990:11). Additional to my story telling, my sources of data / field text are observation, reports, official documents, previous research and diary (journal) records.. As an EE practitioner with no colleague or manager with formal EE background or “professional educational expertise” (CCT, 2004), I experienced a serious lack of interaction / discourse in my work situation. Jalongo and Isenberg (1995:127) accentuate the importance of sharing narratives with colleagues in saying:. “…times of reflection and discussions with colleagues are frequently the sole opportunities to examine decisions based on immediate, practical concerns and their underlying rationales”. 30.

(40) Jalongo and Isenberg (1995) in Olson (1997:494) furthermore mention that the absence of meaningful professional dialogue prompts teachers to return to the university year after year.. An array of perspectives is possible through work with story. According to Jalongo and Isenberg (1995:14) a “useful story of practice” has the following key characteristics: •. It is genuine and rings true. •. It is interpreted and reinterpreted. •. It is powerful and evocative. •. It invites reflection and discourse. Reflection can be done individually or as a group and the following objectives as pointed out by April (2003:1), Olson (1997), Singh (1996) and Jalongo and Isenberg (1995) could be attained: •. Reflection helps us to critically evaluate and make sense of our professional experiences.. •. Practitioners could gain greater awareness of the beliefs and assumptions upon which their practice is based.. •. Introspection would lead to the uncovering of any biases that might exist.. •. You may develop greater understanding about your own practice and it could increase your ability to evaluate its effectiveness.. •. By coming up with your own solutions a greater sense of control and selfempowerment could be engendered and enable us to become lifelong learners.. •. It could make you more receptive to change.. •. It could lead to greater commitment and new action in your practice (“potentially transformative”).. Singh (1996:349) states that reflective practitioners combine the ‘objective and subjective, using themselves as a source of knowledge, and integrate their own 31.

(41) knowledge with the knowledge they have learned from others. It is thus a social process that is not value free, since values, beliefs and desires influence our expectations and the way we reflect.. Gough (1993:179) refers to social. constructions, which cannot “exist independently of human perception and activity”.. Throughout this research I kept on asking myself: “What will the benefit of this reflective study be?. Will it lead to improvement and more effectiveness in. practice? Will it give a sense of personal empowerment?” This study therefore provided an opportunity to look back on what was done, understand what I did and the conditions that made it possible (Singh, 1996:349). Through this story I want to describe how the use of reflection both on my own and with others has nurtured my personal and professional growth.. According to Schon (1987) it has been shown that reflective practice is useful for the improvement of educational practice and this presented a strong motivation for framing my research in this way.. Singh (1996) indicates that the reflective teacher uses three sources of information: •. Experiential ways of knowing - taking personal experience and “gut-feel” seriously. My personal experience and actions of the five years of practise and that of the EE officers in other nature reserves forms a very important source of knowledge for this research. I to a large extent worked on what I felt was the right thing to do in spite of policy suggestions and changes. This was largely based on my judgements made while engaged with school groups at the EE centre as well as with fellow staff members.. •. Empirical ways of knowing – research findings inform about better ways of doing. In this research socio-economic and geographic location proved to be factors in the establishment of the centre and the programmes and 32.

(42) activities offered. Issues for example sexism and racism can also be mentioned, but for this specific research rather not discussed. I also relied on documents such as evaluation documents and planning for future seminar notes that are kept at the EE centre I work at. These provided me with a historical perspective as well as a picture of the current operations and how these are viewed by outsiders who were involved in evaluations of the work at the centre. •. Theoretical ways of knowing – theories provide a structured set of propositions and language.. My understandings of EE derived from. engaging with literature of the field during postgraduate studies played a major role in informing my practice and views of EE in a conservation centre. My personal experience, practice of my colleagues and other factors such as geographic location, socioeconomic status are discussed and critically examined against the theories of EE in this study. These ideas also provided me with direction and assisted in my critical reflections of the tensions between policy and practice in the KPEEC.. I focused largely on the experiential and empirical but feel that my experiences of reflection in terms of my personal theory will help me to develop new theory about my practice and improve the understanding of my work.. According to Reddy and Menkveld (2000) there are different levels or forms of reflection that can be distinguished. They use the categories developed by Van Manen (1977) to distinguish the following levels of reflection: •. Technical reflection. The focus here is competency, effectiveness and efficiency that can be demonstrated by measurable outcomes. This reflection is narrow in scope, as it does not examine questions about the purposes, value and goals of schooling. This played itself out in reflections on experiences of visitors,. 33.

(43) numbers of visitors attending the centre and ideas for improvement of practice to satisfy needs expressed in evaluation forms. •. Practical/problematic reflection. Here the teacher analyses behaviour to see if and how goals and objectives are met by relying on personal experience and observation. Van Manen (1977) identified this as a hermeneutic-phenomenological paradigm by defying easy routine solution. I engaged in this kind of reflection as a practitioner with a view to better understanding my practice and therefore improving practice based on personal experiences. I particularly focused on ways of improving the field experiences of learners visiting the centre with their teachers. This included reviewing the worksheets and other materials we used as well as the general programme content we focused on for the visits. •. Critical reflection. Here the political, ethical and social context of teaching, the taken for granted conceptions of teachers’ work are considered. In my case this reflection would involve the centre as part of a broader attempt by the City of Cape Town to address environmental concerns and also to raise awareness amongst the broader population of Cape Town. I also questioned the role of the centre in this process and more specifically whether one could combine environmental education with a strong ethos of conservation and maintain balanced programmes in a centre.. These levels of reflection link to the viewpoints presented by Singh (1996) and I draw on all of them in my research process. I drew on these ideas to analyse and interpret the data, in an attempt to understand and extract meaning from my work.. In order to understand and capture the complexity and richness of experience within a specific context, Clandinin and Connelly (2000:50) position inquiries into experience within what they term the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space. The dimensions of this space are the following: 34.

(44) •. Personal (internal conditions such as feelings, hopes) and social (the environment). •. Temporality (past, present and future). •. Place (specific physical and topological boundaries of inquiry landscapes).. Any inquiry into experience must then have temporal dimensions; it must focus on the personal and the social and must occur in specific places (Clandinin & Connelly 2000:50). In this study I draw on my personal experiences, history of the nature reserve and centre, current activities and the physical space of the nature reserve as my references in terms of the above categories.. Like other qualitative methods, narrative also relies on criteria other than validity, reliability and generalization. Connelly and Clandinin (1990:7) emphasised the importance of not trying "to squeeze the language of narrative criteria into a language created for other forms of research", but rather demand its own unique set of criteria.. The following were identified as possible criteria (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990:7): •. Verisimilitude: that is evoking in readers a feeling that the experience described is lifelike, believable and possible (Ellis & Bochner, 2000:751). •. Transferability: that is when readers feel that the story speaks to them about the experiences of others they know and tells about unfamiliar people or lives (Ellis & Bochner, 2000:751). •. Resonance: that is reacting to a story with a narrative of one’s own. •. Plausibility: the story, reflection and experiences are related and linked coherently. All of these were kept in mind in the writing of my story based on reflections over the past five years of employment. Since I have not kept a continuous journal record of my experiences, I relied mainly on my memory, discussions with colleagues and people I engaged with, as well as records and documents related to the reserves (TNR and DNR) and the KPEEC. I coupled data as 35.

(45) story and reflective analysis in the next chapters as indicated in my chosen method of narrative. Some of the data were produced by way of short interviews and in some cases conversations with colleagues and people who worked in the centre before I was appointed as an education officer. Much of these interactions were informally conducted and recorded as such.. 36.

(46) CHAPTER 4. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE KPEEC. In asking what the value of a historical perspective is, Irwin and Lotz-Sisitka in Loubser (2005:35) indicate the following:. Historical perspectives •. give us an understanding of how we got to where we are, whether it be environmentally, socially or in other ways. •. remind us that our efforts and ideas stand on the shoulders of those who preceded us, whether they are great, humble or obscure.. •. encourage us to question our own assumptions and attitudes as well as the ‘facts of life’, and hence to reflect on our own value systems and ways of reasoning.. In the attempt to understand my practice in context I deemed it necessary to research the historical development of the reserve (TNR). This I felt would highlight the following: •. The way in which the centre operated before I arrived. The centre had been in operation for ten years prior to my arrival. These ten years were imperative in determining if the appointment of an EE officer made any difference in the operations of the centre.. •. The impact the history had on my work. Through engaging with the history and analysing it, only then would I be able to determine if the history had any impact on the current operations of the centre.. •. What I was able to attain during my employment.. 37.

(47) The history would be an indication of what “was” and the current activities would be an indication of what was attained during my employment.. 4.1. History of the Tygerberg Nature Reserve (TNR). Prior to the arrival of the Dutch in the Cape, the Tygerberg area was used for livestock grazing by the Khoisan. Outside the Table and Liesbeek valleys, the first farmlands to be occupied by the settlers were around the Tygerberg Hills (Wesson, 1998: 31).. The present reserve consists of parts of the farms. Loevenstein and Welgemoed, which were given to the “Vrijburgers” (Martin Pouission from France and Nicolaas Laubser from Switserland) in 1701 and 1704 respectively, by Simon van der Stel. Large parts of the reserve were ploughed for a period as long as 200 years, and mainly grain and vineyards were planted in the rich soil. Farming activities came to an end in 1948 in Welgemoed and 1963 in Loevenstein (Marais in Low & Jones, 1995:9). The largest parts of the farms were developed into an exclusive (whites only) metropolitan area with Afrikaans being the dominant language.. In 1974 the Bellville Municipality proclaimed the Tygerberg Local Authority Nature Reserve of 70 hectare and in 1997 Anglo American Properties donated 50 hectare, which together with 150 hectare Public Open Space donated by Parow Municipality, was incorporated into the TNR. The reserve is 270 hectare and surrounded by an upper middle class, predominantly Afrikaans speaking population. No ‘townships’ are within close proximity and no school within close walking distance from the reserve.. 4.2. The TNR as a unique natural asset for environmental / conservation education.. Macdonald (1994:4) highlighted the fragility and importance of the veldtype found in the TNR in terms of biodiversity by stating that: 38.

No results found